One of the most popular ways that citizen naturalists are involved with the community is through a citizen science program. Citizen science is where the public volunteers time to assist scientists in their research. Citizen scientists can support professional researchers in a lot of ways – by submitting data, sharing experiences or spreading valuable information. Scientists benefit from having a lot more data to analyze and a pool of volunteers willing to help.
Citizen naturalists are people concerned about the environment who choose to help make a difference both locally and nationally. They spend time outside, observing nature with a critical eye.
Anyone can be a citizen naturalist – all you need is a passion for nature and helping your community!
There are many opportunities to participate in citizen science, from looking for lost ladybugs or cleaning up and monitoring streams, to tracking stars.
The Lost Ladybug Project involves counting the spots, photographing ladybugs, and sending the information to the project. Read more at this link www.lostladybug.org
Creek Watch is an iphone application to help track water pollution and monitor the health of your local watershed. Read more at this link Creek Watch on SciStarter
CoCoRaHS, The Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network is a unique, non-profit, community-based network of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds working together by using low-cost measurement tools, stressing training and education, and utilizing an interactive website, our aim is to provide the highest quality data for natural resource, education and research applications. Read more (http://cocorahs.org/
The river otter project’s goal is to fill in key gaps in the biology/ecology of otters is the San Francisco bay area by spotting otters and adding observations to the website The River Otter Ecology Project on SciStarter
One of the most popular citizen science activities, and perhaps the first to become widespread, is the Christmas Bird count. The 113th Christmas Bird Count will take place from December 14, 2012 through January 5, 2013. Beginning in mid-November you can check “Find a Count near you” on this link. http://birds.audubon.org/christmas-bird-count